Unmanned aerial vehicles have been growing in importance for a wide variety of purposes from inspection operations for industrial sites, surveillance applications, to the actual delivery of military ordinance in areas of armed conflict. Unmanned vehicles are often controlled via a control interface that often takes the form of a display screen and control console very similar to that found in video games. While the vehicle being controlled and the actions taken by a vehicle are very real, the operator sitting in a chair controlling the vehicle is often limited to visual and/or audio input and does not have a physical sense for how the vehicle is moving. This lack of tactile input and lack of a sense of actual physical motion which a pilot of a manned vehicle feels, results in the operator of a unmanned vehicle having a much lower sense of vehicle motion. In addition, the vehicle operation has little sense of personal presence as compared to the case where a human is in a cockpit and is shaken by air turbulence and feels the motion induced by operation of the operator controls.
It should be appreciated that it would be desirable if operator control of unmanned vehicles could be improved so that they were closer to the feel, including the feel of actual vehicle motion. In particular, it would be desirable if an operator of an unmanned vehicle could be made to feel the motion of the vehicle and thereby obtain a sense of presence normally felt by an operator of a manned vehicle.
In view of the above discussion, it should be appreciated that there is a need for improved methods and apparatus for controlling unmanned vehicles whether they be aerial vehicles, land vehicles or water based vehicles.